Tolkien left much to imagination in his trilogy (and prequel). Of course, one wants to know how they all went to the bathroom. One assumes they buried their waste--still, how did they do it, what with breeches and all. Anyone who reads the history of the American West knows that our Indigenous Peoples often took their kills when the soldiers were in the midst of making water or waste. Much merriment was made of their need time needed to unbutton and button breeches. Since, presumably, orcs, not being organic, do not require garments nor need privy breaks, get their best shots in when men were on break. Is that the real reason behind Boromir's death (ah--conspiracy theories and the Fellowship).
Furthermore, when I saw Jackson's 1917--scenes haunting. Very young soldiers breaking their buttocks over a narrow beam where the waste would drop off. All sorts of colonic disorders. Unbearable to even watch those scenes, especially knowing the young JRRR was a soldier in the forests of France.
Much easier to try and muse over the cuisine. First--what does Bilbo eat at Rivendell? How does he eat--does he prepare his food or is it served en-famille, like at the old-fashioned Catskill hotels? Did elves serve hobbits, or was it buffet style. Who did the dishes? Who cleaned. After all, Bilbo's nose was mighty put out of joint by the dwarvish racket in his house, their mess, and their consumption of his food. However, the dwarves did clean up after themselves and did not sleep over. And of course, we know hobbits ferment wine and beer (and drank and sold thereof).
Did Bilbo go hunting? Does Rivendell have butcher shops and bakeries? What strange new foods did he sample? Did he try to replicate them once "back" again. What about at Dale? Or at the bear-guy's mead hall?
What about recipes and crops? DId he try to introduce new varieties in the Shire? One would think Sam certainly would, 80 years later. And the Fellowship went further abroad. Gondor. Rohan. Different breads, potatoes, rice? Herbs? Cabbages, lettuces? Gondor was in the south. What types of fish frequented their shores? Different ways to prepare meat. We know Sam had seeds from Galadrial, which he planted in the Shire once he had the chance.
We know Gollum ate raw fish and meat (sushi and tartar). Was such typical of early hobbit life, from which he arose? Consumption of raw meat was not unknown in France (where tartar comes from). Am I to believe that the horsemen of Rohan did not eat raw meat as well? Being able to eat cooked meat is seen as a sort of virtue. And even hobbits had some sort of dietary law--you recall Pippin only ate bread during his capture by the orcs, he threw away their meat, unsure if its provenance was some "unclean" beast. (Now you know why I made Tooks honorary Jews).
I'm surprised no one has attempted to try and cash in on the Middle-Earth craze with the Cookbooks of Middle Earth--all the various editions--the Shire, Rohan, Gondar, Bard, Rivendell, Mirkwood, Fangorn. Sharkey's sampler. Supping with Sauron, Eating with Elrond, Faramir's Farfel, Gandalf's gelato(it's magically delicious)Meriadoc's Muesli, Pippin's pippins, Sam's hams,